Wiper or washer failure on the 2000 Ford Explorer
1 fire 1 of the 16 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
Only 5 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.
When wiper or washer failure gets reported
There are 16 reports of wiper or washer failure on the 2000 Ford Explorer, 5 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 80,000 miles. It is the 20th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 91,700 miles | — | — |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 1 a fire is mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $120–$800 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 11 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2002, at a median of 100 miles, and latest on the 1996 at 150,000 miles.
By volume the 1999 carries the most reports, with 146; the 2000 has 16. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Dt: the contact states there is NHTSA recall campaign 00v072000 concerning the electrical system. This vehicle has the same problems as indicated in the recall, but it is not included in the recall due to VIN. *ak updated 1/11/2006 - the windshield wipers stopped working during a snow storm. The dealer installed a new gem module. The consumer requested reimbursement from the manufacturer. *nm
Tl* the contact owns a 2000 ford explorer. The windshield wiper fuse intermittently failed. She replaced the fuse at least four times within two months. The car was parked in front her home when she heard the vehicle alarm going off. She was unable to shut the alarm off with the keyless entry. She found there was smoke coming from the vents of the vehicle. The vents began to melt and she then noticed flames. The fire department was called however she was able to put the fire out before they arrived. The dealer advised her vehicle was not under recall however she found several complaints online pertaining to possible fires and one recall pertaining to the failure of the windshield wiper motor (see NHTSA campaign id number: 00v072000) her vehicle identification number was not included in any of the recalls. No repairs had been made to the vehicle to date. The current and failure mileages were under 125,149. The vehicle identification number was unavailable.
Tl* the contact owns a 2000 ford explorer. The contact stated that while driving, the windshield wiper would activate without engagement. The vehicle was taken to a local repair shop where it was diagnosed that the multi-function switch was defective and needed to be replace. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure but did not offer any assistance. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 169,000 and current mileage was 175,000.
Also reported on the 2000 Ford Explorer
Other wheel or tire problem
Other powertrain problem
Other body or interior problem
Other engine problem
Other speed control problem
Cruise control failure
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 16 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.
Complaints are voluntary, so 16 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does wiper or washer failure happen on the 2000 Ford Explorer?
Across 5 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 90,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is wiper or washer failure on the 2000 Ford Explorer?
16 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.0 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed